Abstract:

The sandy gravel stratum is of unfavorable plasticity and fluidity, which is sure to induce serious wear of cutterhead and screw conveyor. Moreover, the earth pressure balance is not easily maintained and the face is easy to collapse. As a result, indoor experimental study of foaming technology for sandy gravel stratum is carried out with selfmade foam generator, the effects of foam expansion ratio（FER）, water content and foam injection ratio （FIR） on plastic flow state are analyzed, the variation law of permeability coefficient of soil before and after improvement are studied. The slump test results indicate that the optimal conditioning parameters to achieve required plastic behavior are FER of 30∶1 to 55∶1, water content of 5% to 12.5% and FIR of 20% to 40%, and the bearing effect and the hydrogen bond between hydrophilic group of surfactant with water and gravel sand particles are main causes. The permeability can reach 10-5 cm/s after using foam agent after 280 minutes; and the coupling and the liquid bridge force in the foam solution of the polymer can stop the water of soil.

Key words: earth pressure balance shield, FER, foam generator, foam improvement, soil improvement, sandy gravel, plastic flow, permeability